TIRANA, Dec. 21 – Several protests took place in Tirana this week calling for the protection of the Valbona National Park. Citizens and activists protested against building hydropower plants on the Valbona River.
Protests took place in front of the parliament and other relevant institutions that issued the construction permits that can harm the national park.
Several dozen environmental activists first protested last Sunday in front of the capital’s monument of independence and in front of the monument of the national hero, Gjergj Kastrioti Skà«ndà«rbeu.
The protest aimed to protect Valbona’s natural habitat in the face of the government allowing the building hydropower plants that protesters say will destroy the area’s natural beauty.
Another protest took place Thursday in front of the government and parliament headquarters. Organizers said they don’t want to be involved in politics and blamed the entire political class for decisions leading to its destruction.
Valbona’s Friends Group organized the rallies after a court issued a ruling allowing companies to continue construction.
The protesters stressed that all construction work, tunnels, roads and concrete are being built in a national park protected by the law, thus permits given constitute flagrant violations of some construction and environmental laws.
Representatives of construction firms protected their investments in the administrative court, saying they hold every necessary permit and official decision that opens the way for these constructions. Their documentation has a long, ten-year history, containing decisions and decrees from a number of governments and ministries, agencies and directories.
Nonetheless, citizens insist that construction in the natural park is destroying the habitat natural values and potential for tourism.
Speakers at Thursday’s rally, which had about 100 people, said they want the general prosecutor to investigate the companies’ documentation as they say it contains falsified documents and signatures from people who are deceased.
Various international experts agree with the activists’ concerns. Such a view has been expressed in numerous cases, among which a paper written by the World Wildlife Fund on March of 2017. In the paper, it is expressed that hydropower development in Valbona is an egregious and ill-thought-out case of unsustainable development in Albania.
“Independent international experts conclude that all parts of the Environmental Impact Assessment Reports (EIA Reports) provide very poor information with major gaps or weaknesses which would prevent the proper decision making process proceeding and require major work to complete,” the paper says.
Work at the hydropower plants’ construction sites has increased lately and citizens testify to a number of explosives’ detonations in order to create tunnels where the river will flow. Digging in the rocky structures has interfered with the national park’s tranquility and traditional beauty.
